Black Swan
by Maximilian Isles
Summary: Emma thinks back on the last 30 years of her life and the woman who saved her son.


A/N: I do not own any part of Once Upon A Time.

This idea would not leave me alone until I sat down an wrote it. In the middle of writing it my brain switched gears and turned it into what it is now. I should apologize for what you are about to read but I hope you enjoy it anyway.

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My mother used to tell me that we all had one great love in our lives and when we found them they would bear the same Signum. She and my father had black crescent moons on their necks. I remember having nightmares when I was a child; I would curl up in my mother's arms and trace her Signum with my finger. It would always calm me down. It gave me hope and for a long time that is what I lived on. I used to dream of finding my other half, the other person with a black swan over their heart. I haven't looked for my other half since Neal. He betrayed me in the worst way possible.

When I was 16 my father passed away when his body rejected the liver transplant that was supposed to save his life. My mother followed soon after; she died of a broken heart. They used to joke that they could not live without the other, now I realize that they were dead serious. I was alone in this world and I thought meeting Neal was fate. I was wrong. So very wrong. It seems temporary black swan tattoos were abundant. He tricked me into his bed. For months and months, he took advantage that I was grieving and naive. I will never make the same mistake again. I will never forget how I felt when I saw him applying the tattoo early one morning. I felt sick, broken, enraged, most of all, I felt empty. That was 15 years ago.

I never did tell him that I was pregnant and that I gave birth to a beautiful baby boy. That boy was the light of my life, he will always be the light of my life. But that light was fading, and was fading fast. I seemed to have carried whatever liver disease my father had onto Henry and I will never forgive myself for that. I sat next to his hospital bed for days hoping that we would get the news that there was a liver available. He only needed a small portion of his liver to be replaced.

The call came in early one morning and the nurses rushed into his room to take him away to surgery. I paced the waiting room anxiously waiting for his doctor to tell me he was ok. I must have looked like a caged tiger. I must have sent hundreds of prayers to nameless Gods. It was hours before the doctor came out with a grim look on his face. My world fell apart. I hoped and hoped that doctor was just tired and I hadn't lost my son. For once fate was on my side and the doctor told me that Henry pulled through but they lost the donor. The courageous woman that felt the need to give my son life, lost hers. I asked the doctor if I could see her. I wanted to say thank you but i knew word would never be enough. He left me alone when we got to the morgue; he knew I wanted privacy.

Up until that point in my life my mother was the most beautiful woman I had ever seen and as wrong as this may sound, my mother could not hold a candle to the beauty on the cold metal table. It seems unfair that even in death, this woman could look beautiful. I saw a faint mark beneath the white sheet spread across her body, and my curiosity got the best of me. I pulled the sheet back and my heart fell out of my chest and down to my feet. Tears ran freely down my face. This woman, my son's savior, had black swan on her chest.

My mother was right; we did have one great love in our lives. Mine may be gone but I love her more than I thought I could. She gave me the greatest gift in the world and I will never forget that. She gave me my son back. I met her family when they came to collect her. Her father and her sister were some of the kindest people I'd ever met. Henry was still in the hospital recovering when they buried her. I let my friend watch him while I attended her funeral. I may not have known her in life but my heart grieved just the same at the loss of it's other half. I didn't let go of Henry's hand that night. That was 15 years ago.

I held onto Henry's hand and squeezed. We did this every year, and every year it seemed to hurt more. I let go of his hand and traced the engraved swan on the marble headstone. I thanked her yet again for giving my son life and as far as I'm concerned, she is every bit his mother as I am. Because of her I was able to see Henry graduate from law school, get married, and start his own family. Ever since he found out that she was a lawyer he made it his goal to follow her footsteps. Today, he made partner at the firm. We stood there until my tears were exhausted and my knees were weak. Henry's wife held me up and I buried my head in her neck. How could you miss someone you never met? Henry placed a dozen white lilies down and kissed the headstone. "Thank you…Mom."

 _Here lies Regina Mills, Beloved Daughter, Sister, and Savior._

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A/N2: I'm sorry.


End file.
